Lethal League Blaze strikes out in October, with Jet Set Radio vibes

Baseball biffer Lethal League is getting a sequel. “Wait,” you say, “that’s not news, Brendan.” Yes yes, but listen. “No,” you say. “We already knew that Lethal League Blaze, another baseball-themed fighting game in which players bat around an increasingly superfast ball, was being made by developers Team Reptile. Look, it’s right here – Lethal League gets a sequel.” Um, yes, I know. But look – “Oh, let me guess,” you say. “They’ve shown what it looks like now? They’ve given you a trailer of the new 3D art style, have they?” I mean, yes bu– “And it’s being released in October I bet.” How did you – “And now you expect us to go and look at this video, I suppose, after the break?” Uh, yeah, that was the — “Ugh. You’re so predictable, Brendan.” Sorry. “Get out of the way, you’re blocking the trailer.”

It’s coming out on Steam on October 24, say the creators. As you can see, it’s getting the full Jet Set Radio treatment, with cel-shaded characters and composer Hideki Naganuma pitching in on the music. That’s good. Jet Set always had some good bleep-bloop-scritch-scratch. But the soundtrack will also feature blippity bloopers Klaus Veen, Pixelord, and Frank Klepacki, known for Command and Conquer music such as Red Alert’s boot-stompingly good Hell March. We mentioned both Jet Set and the Hell March on the RPS podcast about the best soundtracks. So at least there’s a good chance of this bat ‘em up having good soundz.

As for the fighting game itself, it will have twice as many playable characters as before, including Doombox, the final boss from the original. It’ll have a fleshed-out story mode and a new grab move that let’s you “pitch the ball back and directly counter your opponent’s defense”. One of the new characters is a vigilante bloke called Nitro. Imagine if Viewtiful Joe had a partner in justice who carried around a giant handcuff. That’s him.